A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to information retrieval systems and, more particularly, to systems and methods that modify entries in a document.
B. Description of Related Art
A “document” may be defined as any type of document, such as a web document (e.g., a web page) that may be found on the World Wide Web (“web”) or a word processing document (e.g., a Microsoft Word document) created or stored on a computer. Every document may include content and/or entries. “Content” may include data or other information relating to the document. An “entry” may be defined as a link or a link plus its link information. A “link” may be defined as a reference from one document to another or from one part of a document to another part of the same document. An example of a link in a web document is a hyperlink and an example of a link in a non-web document is a footnote or endnote. “Link information” may include information, such as text and/or other information, associated with a link.
Many existing hierarchical directories contain entries that include hyperlinks to other hyperlinked documents on the web. These entries may also contain descriptive text. When a user accesses a hierarchical directory, the user must decide which entry to choose. Often, the entries are ordered alphabetically and have no distinguishing characteristics that may aid the user in making a decision. Therefore, it is often difficult for a user to determine which entry in the directory to choose.
The same holds true for non-directory documents. For example, a non-directory document may contain one or more entries that include links to and from other documents or other portions of the same document. Users often follow the links to locate documents or information of interest. The entries may be located anywhere in the documents and typically contain no distinguishing features that aid the user in determining which entry or entries to select.
As a result, there exists a need for distinguishing entries in documents to aid a user in determining which entry or entries to choose.